Thursday, June 10, 2010

Evidences of Mathematical Strategies Followed by Marine Animals While Hunting

The latest issue of journal Nature dated June 9 has a paper on the fascinating hunting pattern of marine animals. The authors show that the hunting pattern is not a random one. The animals follow a mathematical pattern called Lévy walks, punctuated by rare, long forays in any direction. Dr David Sims, a researcher at the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom in Plymouth was the lead researcher.

Dr Sims and his colleagues say they have firm evidence for Lévy behavior in 14 species of open-ocean marine predators, including tuna, swordfish, marlin and sharks. The group managed to collect more than 12 million data points for their research.

Lévy behavior was more prominent in waters where plankton, fish and other food was scarce. According to Dr Sims Lévy motion improves the chances of finding prey.

It was Gandhimohan Viswanathan, a theoretical physicist at the Federal University of Alagoas in Maceió, Brazil, who first demonstrated Lévy walks pattern in wandering albatrosses. Wandering albatrosses, fitted with radio-tracking devices, made the occasional long flight that is the hallmark of a Lévy pattern.

Dr Sims and his team are now looking to identify Levy behavior in lower marine animals such as octopuses.